KPies 1974 Holden Belmont

[azzurro]

This is not my car. Im just the low rate mechanic. 

 

What i knew about this car was:

My Father in Law, Bill, has 'The Holden' in a lean to shed. Kirsty learned to drive in it, and shes always wanted it and Bill said she could have it one day. 

It has the engine and gearbox (exact details unclear) from the Torana her older brother rolled when he was 16 'dodging a rabbit' on a gravel road.

Its been in the shed pretty much since they moved into the 'new house'. He used to bring it out sometimes to wash it but hasnt for a long while.

She put her name on it a few years ago and sent me a pic. My first and only view of it till now.

Then a couple months ago, he said 'come and get the Holden'

So, we did.

[azzurro]

Organized time off and ferrys etc and a cool 10 days hanging in Fielding. 

Real barn find!

Her names on it so this must be it.

We pumped up the tyres and had a general look around one day

   

Then cleared all the stuff out over the next few days, did a lot of gardening too,

Hooked it up to the van and pulled it into the light

 

 

 

[azzurro]

Then of course it was time to have a good look while cleaning it a bit, and taking stock

So, its a 1974 Holden HQ Belmont Sedan in Orchid Red. 

Last wof/reg in 2001, so was on the road into Kpies early 20's around the same time i met her.

Seems it also got the Torana front seats, maybe the centre console? Interior looks pretty good under the dust.

Overall looks pretty straight and complete. Some rusty bits of course but not too bad at all for one of these

8s out back and 7s up front, massive CNG tank in the book gives it a rake.

 

 

This car was a NZ new factory 202 manual 3 on the tree car. 

Bill bought it cheap from a guy who bought it to put the v8 that was in it into something else, or something - bought with no engine in it anyway

The engine and box now in it is a 173 (2.8l) with a manual 4 on floor from the aforementioned rolled Torana, which had recently had a fair bit spent on the engine (??)

It has a single barrel Stromberg and also has CNG.

Only $4.20 to Whanganui!

Took the plugs out and oiled the cylinders, cleaned the sparkplugs and filed the points and hooked up a battery.

Neighbours come to assist. Many opinions were shared

We managed to get it to fire off on squirting gas down the yap, but it just wouldn't keep running.

The consensus is that the timing and/or the electrics are weird

Brake pedal does nothing till halfway then hard stops, no braking action. Handbrake kinda works.

Engine isnt stuck and clutch is free and gearbox goes into all gears.

Bill is stoked it fired up, Kirsty is happy, and that it rolls at all is good enough for the transporter man.

 

We push it back in the shed to wait for the transporter

[azzurro]

Ma te wa to Bill and whanau, then we headed home, with our van loaded up with other treasure from the shed(s)  

Forgot to mention i got jealous of her getting new car, so I got me one the same colour as hers on the way up.

Given i had to drive this, Kirsty was driving the van the whole way home, she was none too pleased about it

(But, yes it is better than my current 2005 Forester X its replacing in every way, thanks for asking - 2002 XT, totally stock, sub 200k and after a few wee issues (MAF sensor, oily connectors, new spark plugs) it really kicks when the whirly boi winds up!) 

Good Day in Welly before overnight sailing

Breaky fry up in Kaikoura

a quick stop to rise the north island off 

And about 3 days after we got home, this turned up.

Used Classic Towing - worked out fine, but lucky both Bill and myself are home most of the time because the communication around changes of plan was a bit lacking tbh. The man can sure back a trailer tho. 

Its a fricken whale compared to my 'big' Fiat, an easy foot wider.

 

Time to poke the bear

First thing, remove the CNG stuff from the engine bay.

Not only is it unfillable, the electrics are one of the layers of fuckery (the least bad to be fair, but also totally redundant), the tees that loop into the factory heater coolant lines to stop the regulator freezing up  were corroded apart, and the carb hat gas injector thing made the air cleaner butterfly nut rub on the underside of the hood.

'New' heater hoses (from the old CNG line) and a bit of a wiring tidy up

Fuel pump clean (no go in Feilding, leaks like a sieve now, still no pumping action), now bypassed with a clicketyclack, needs a rebuild kit (diaphram and gaskets)

Carb cleanup, was pretty clean inside the bowls etc, works ok now, needs a kit too (tore a gasket)

Dirty ol' single barrel Stromberg BXV-2 is clean, now sitting on the still very oily 173

Bosch dizzy removed, cleaned and oiled, gap reset, but all the points, cap, rotor, leads and sparkplugs all look relatively low miles, so perfectly fine for now.

Changed the oil and filter (oil was black and smelled like petrol but no chunks), re-crimped a new loose connections, taped some twisted wires, removed some vampire taps and chock blocks as well

Put it back in starting from first principles (ignoring the marks, get cylinder 1 on compression stroke at as close to tdc-ish you can with a long thing in the spark plug hole, rotor pointing to lead 1) and it was about 90 degrees off where it was before - dizzy couldnt be turned enough to get the right timing, so i wonder if it had been tutued with before and the hassle of it not running well was why it got parked. Bill did say it had several minor issues needed sorting out and they got a newer, better car and he just stopped driving it.

Anyway, buttoned up and after some further fine tuning it starts on one pump of the pedal and idles smooth. Not smoky (any more)

Still no coolant or brakes. 

 

 

[azzurro]

Now we know it runs, next step is to make it worth driving

The interior was pretty good condition but there was a lot of evidence of rats eating and storing snail shells in the engine bay and mice droppings in the interior, but no evidence they lived there long, and the shed it was in wasnt water tight so it was all a bit smelly and musty

Anyway, all needed to come out for a clean & deodorised the seats, throw away the original horsehair underlay and to make it easier to do a few other jobs, like...

 

 

Improve the shifter opening,

replaced the galv flashing and countersinks that didn't really cover the hole,

replaced with some alloy sheet (from the Sign of the year!)

Metal from that trailer is in 5/5 classic cars we own now.

 

   

 

Removed interior:

Easiest approach is just remove everything to get eyes into all the corners of  the floors and etc, and much easier give everything a good cleanup.

Floor condition is most excellent, no rust at all!

'New' Underlay (free second hand stuff) to replace the original horsehair stuff that was a bit smelly and flat.

I think the front carpet might be ex-torana too, it doesn't quite meet up with what im pretty sure is the  original HQ rear carpet.

Both carpets are in nice nick, and we will cover the gap (which under the seats) with some cheap nylon outdoor carpet from m10 that we will also use for the parcel tray that is also unmolested by axe holes for 6x9s etc.

Rear came up nice as well, car has a tan interior with dark brown headlining - class!

Removed the steering wheel and cleaned it,

spayed the steering column black (was grey and still has the column change mech in it) and

tidied the dash (omg its so janky!) up a touch, and also the wiring behind it mainly by removing anything that has added in as it  either twisted, sometimes taped, chock blocks or  vampire taps.

 

And then remove the dead weight out of the boot to make room for bodies and crates of DB

Its easily 80kgs, empty

 

Things will likley slow down a bit now, as from here its time to start spending money on parts, most likley starting with brakes which i have not even had a wheel off yet to even check what they are apart from being discs up front and drums out back)

I suspect the weird too easy/dead stop half way pedal/no brake function issue is the piston is jammed halfway down the master cylinder, as there is no leaks from any soft lines, and lots of fluid in the MC.

 

[azzurro]

Regale me with your HQ related tales of triumph and woe, and ownership hints and tips here ^

[azzurro]

last month or so Kirsty and I have been poking away at this

Got the interior back together, the Torana seats look pretty cool in brown, but there is no reclining function, they only bolt to two of the HQ factory holes  and there are bits of wood under the two feet, so some factory or better seats are on the list now too. Seatbelts as well.

 

Got it running off a boat tank off the key reliably, and next task is to make it stop so at least it can move it self around relatively safely.

I like having projects be drivable, I like that they can do their main function, lots me think they are pretty much done apart from some petty technicalities.

Started bleeding from the master as the pedal felt like the piston was stuck. No fluid exiting from the front port (rear brakes), rear port (front brakes) seemed fine.

(Notes for later reference: PBR alloy master, cast iron front callipers, drum rear)

Yep - was stuck down and full of schmoo. 

Got it professionally line bored 

Assembled it with lots of rubber grease and 'rebuilt' the brake booster

Tidied up the engine bay a bit more as well

 

Aaaaand now it leaks fluid into the booster when the pedal is pumped..

I may have assembled it wrong but i suspect one of the seals is blown/nicked or the bore is pitted somewhere (looked fine). 

Will need all new brakes at some point anyway so ill try to find a kit for cheap, or a new master even (seems they are around $300 from the usual places)

 

 

 

 

[azzurro]

So point of having it stop is to have it driving is so it can be moved around.

Driving a project is a good motivator too

Point of being able to stop is to drive it outside to give it a good clean underneath, mainly  so we can see whats under there and dont get filthy while working on it

This car was driven a lot on wet gravel roads. 

There was a LOT of dirt underneath

Quick tidy of the 14x7 and 14x8 Cheviots while they are off with some fine scotchbrite to get the worst of the oxidising off

Some blue  springs and matching blue AUSTRALIA RIDES MONROE GAS shocks in the rear.

Pretty sure both he springs and the shocks are completely shagged from carrying around the LPG tank but interesting to see.

This thing is an absolute whale compared to the rest of the fleet

Gave it a wipe down with a waxy towel

Swept out and tidied up stuff

And shuffled everything back to bed

[azzurro]

Removing the mud and giving the old girl a good bath made it look better, but also made it easier to see a fair few issues.

I think this has been restored once before and there are a few rust bubbles starting and a fair bit of paint adhesion and filler cracking in all the 'usual' spots.

I shouldn't have but i started to pick. 

The Premier sill garnish that had been riveted on this lowly Belmonts sills was holding a lot of mud so i drilled (some) of the rivets.

Sucks teeth

Ill think ill just put that back up there and pretend we didnt see that 

With the seal definitely broken i dug into all the suspect areas to see how many repair panels to put on the list . 

This deep crease explains the thick filler on the upper half of this quarter panel, the filler probably made the rust on the lower half worse.

Removing the deep filler means the door shut looks 100x better than it did

Good 5mm of filler of this too, and much the same on the other side, except that side has braze as well

There were signs of lots of filler on this quarter too. It has also been (previously?) brazed

some of the filler was 10mm thick

Took most of it off with a heat gun, much less messy than with a whirlywoo.

The panel looked like this underneath it, from a prang in the rear

Spent a bit of time with some hammers and dollies and a bit of extra heat trying to shrink some spots and it is quite a lot better.

Like the other side, removing the filler also significantly improved the fit of the doors to the body!

So yeah, some bits are pretty much as i expected (doors) some are much much better than i feared (quarter panels, cowls) , but some i didnt even suspect, like the sills, are quite bad indeed.

We will need every patch panel you can buy, which basically means its got bitten in all the usual places, but that is a nice change from not being able to buy any panels at all!

 

[azzurro]

We decided to remove the front clip to tidy it up and make it easier to get to the suspension and enginey bits as well.

Check out the custom radiator shims - the Torana must have a shorter engine bay. 

We got $50 of random 202 bits of FBMP and amongst a couple other handy bits that included a near new water pump, a much better thermostat housing  and the extended fan thing.

Nose cone off

Note the blue inner on the drivers fender i think this was replaced post restoration as the paint is overall much worse than any other panel and seems to have been painted only once bolted on - the passenger side is also a replacement (originally a pale yellow/mustard) but was fairly obviously repainted with much more prep and attention while off the car.

Other than the fender rust behind the front wheels where water and mud collects, the front clip panels are entirely rust free which is nice

Fenders out

Pulled everthing to bits, cleaned it, derusted, and painted 

Pretty pleased with that, pressed a couple of dents out with the press and it seems to sit nicer too

Going through the front indicators to make at least 2 ok ones

inner fenders tidied up

rad support seperated from the nosecone and all bits including the lamps all cleaned, derusted, unbent, painted, threads tapped and reassembled. 

Nose cone has similar treatment but just knocking the cracked paint off on the outside and primed it.

Looks worse at first glance, but its straight, rust free and ready to bolt back on, or for body work at some future point.

Need to sort the rust at the base of fenders but all that stuff is ready to bolt back on.

Because my big sheet of 0.8mm is for baby cars, I picked up some 1.0, 1.2 and 1.4mm panel steel offcuts today for $15 + GST ( https://rietveld.co.nz/ - what a treasure of a place - a true barry paradise!) so ill probably make a start on patching the bottom of the easier of the two fenders next to start to ease into it.

[azzurro]

Made @nzstato come over to check out this old bus and lend me some advice on HQs specifically, and discuss the folly of old car projects in general and we have decided to press on.

One bite at a time.

Plan is to finish tidying the front clip so that is done and it can be reassembled and stored back on the car and it looks like a car. 

Brake master so it can at least stop itself as well as go. Will save a full brake overhaul till later.

Will also start a big list of repair panels and random bits from aussie. Inner and outer sills ill just get folded up locally. 

Meanwhile, time for some diy panels using 1.0mm for the first time.

Also $60 repco mini air grinder with 36 grit 3m roloc pads works pretty good! my compressor cant keep up with constant use, but its great for access and cleaning awkward areas as the small pad doesnt really catch like a grinder would, and the speed/torque is controllable which is much nicer than the all or nothing of the grinder

Passenger fender,

has a few bits of loose paint here and there and a few extra trim holes, otherwise excellent, only the typical rear corner mud trap rust.

Made the inner brace first, Rust removed, mostly for access but trying to keep as much data to line up to as possible 

Ready to weld, made the drainage a bit more generous than factory

Welded mostly from the inside, so i dond need to tidy the welds much

So the other side that noone can see cause its behind the inner fender and up against the sill, which i will grind,  look such better

Then the outer, all welded in and the edge dressed over

Got a bit of a hollow right where i couldnt get the dolly into, and its a bit wobbly and hand made at least up close, but pretty happy with that for panel number one, 

Ready for a skim of filler to smooth it off.

Ill save drilling the rear bolt hole till we fit on the car and can adjust it a bit, and add a couple of tacks to lock it in its final shape and seam seal it but thats one rust free fender.

 

 

[azzurro]

Bit more rust repair, on the passenger side doors, which are pretty good apart from the corners which have been bogged or brazed before.

Starting at the rear and working my way forward

Very happy with that!

Leading edge of the rear door had been brazed and then rusted again

Chop chop, bang bang, buzz buzz, grind grind 

The outside of the Inner corner was a bit tricky to get to without removing the door, but the power file and my little air wizzer got in there ok.

Put a bead down the leading edge as i folded it a bit tight.

Outer turned out good.

Rear corner of the front door had also seen some braze

Inner was the worst on this one, had to chop a lot of the outer off to get access to it, but should have cut higher as well

Inner turned out pretty well

I broke the golden rule (its always worse than you think, keep chopping!), I should have cut more out, i started chasing holes, and ended up putting in another patch and got impatient with the hot stick and warped the skin. Fek. Good thing the leading corner of the front door doesnt need any work.

oh well, more bog for the bog gods

More rust for the rust throne

 

[azzurro]

Next step around the Belmont, the rear, which looks pretty good,but does have a couple of issues i can see and maybe some i cant

First take  the rear bumper off

And the tow bar.

so we can have a look behind it all and will also be easier to drop the fuel tank.

Also the bumper is a bit bent and there is a rusty hole behind it. Turns out a factory leaded seam lives there. Also a bit creased from whatever bent the bumper.

Melted the lead out with a torch really  dont want to sand it, but also dont need to takeout any more than i need to either. 

Anyway was a fiddle, but hole is gone

hammer and dolly got the creases reduced too. Ill fill that massive factory divot with bog instead of lead.

Bumper needed a tidy up

Got the bend out in the press, fixed up the wiring that was hacked for the trailer plug, tidied the lenses, sanded and painted the brackets black and the inside Silver

And placed In the pile of 'bits pretty much ready to bolt back on'

[azzurro]

Been filling the doors and the rear of the quarter, I hate it!

Time for something else. Kirsty has spent a bit of money on parts and they are on their way, so time to prep for that.

First things first, lows!

Picked up some rear lowering springs the other day for cheap, used but pretty much brand new, old mate couldnt get his wagon out the driveway with them, been forward and backward about 30m.

They are a fair bit shorter than the existing ones but a fair bit stiffer too

Dropped the rear about 40mm from where it was, and still on the jacks.

Its low-er but not low, much less saggy tho.

now can move to the front end to eventually get it to match.

Busting this apart has been easier than it looks but not easy.

Haul so far

pretty sure the front calipers were sticky before it got parked up, brake pad use has been maximised but rotors look good! 

Shocked but not surprised face that we will be rebuilding brakes

[azzurro]

Dear friends of the thread,

saddens me to let you know that a few weeks ago, after a nice day surrounded by lots of family and a good feed and a glass of beer, Bill passed away, peacefully in bed at home, 82 years young.

Kia ora e hoa, e te matua, e te koroua, kia ora

 

 

He was a real GC, and a big fan of hearing about our discoveries in and work on the Belmont, so we will keep pushing ahead.

[azzurro]

As mentioned upthread, Kirsty had been ordering parts and these had started trickling in,

They of course needed to be inspected and signed off before use.

A bunch of repair sections

A bunch of Brake stuff

More Brake stuff and some front lowering springs, some seals for the gearbox and diff

Buddy was just staying temporarily, the cats graciously allowed him to think he was capable of signing things off, but to be honest he was more interested in inspecting his ball(s):

also got a full front end kit with all the ball joints and tie rods and what not 

And, cleared out @nzstato back shelf of the last of his HQ bits (chur bo!)

 

 

 

[azzurro]

Meanwhile progress on disassembling the front end continued

Original riveted GM ball joints still fitted, still moved around ok, but boots were well perished, a bit of a shame but replaced the lot rather than mess about with new boots

Bushed original Holden ones too, and still in good condition so while new ones came in the front end kit with the ball joints and stuff (how good is being able to just buy, like everything!) these are best left well alone.

 

Bleh!

getting better

Factory stamp still on the steering box!

nearly

Much Better, this is '2k satin chassis black' i got for the 1100T Van, its not very satin, but goes on ok with a brush (cbf with setting up a gun for fiddly bits like this!)

New steering column boot fitted up

And tidied up the subframe while that was off too, but with time with flat black rustkill with way too much owatrol in it, and started putting new bits back into the freshly painted arms

[azzurro]

More reassembly and torqueing - its turning out so good! 

Next was to do much the same to the other side (so we didnt get the parts mixed up) 

and brakes.

Despite the pad wear, the rotors look nearly brand new.

I cleaned them up and also regreased the bearings which also seemed fine (made in japan so probably not original) and put new rear bearing seals on that are basically a big shaped o-ring. Not seen that style before. Im assuming they leak grease everywhere, along with the ball joints and tierods. (TADTS)

Finally, onto the calipers.

PBR, cast iron, single piston. 

Everything was stuck but after a week in the exoff bath most of it came apart, though not without some persuasion.

Much swearing and beating was employed but it all cleaned up nice and went back together smoothly

However, both pistons were stuck.

One eventually came out with the air hose (always put a block in to catch the piston!), after a week in evaporust.

Bore was ok so i rebuilt it, new seals and piston, flexi and pads. 

One done one to go.

The other one wouldn't budge, not even trying to push it in a little bit on the press worked.

Basically needed more pressure so we reassembled the brake system, including a new master and i bent a new hard line that goes under the engine.

The line looked a bit rusty, but on inspection was probably fine from that perspective but, glad i did anyway as it had been dented and pinched quite badly, but that damage was hidden by grease and grime and the tabs, all on on the back of the crossmember, maybe it had been backed into a log or a plank or something. Anyway, new hard line made reusing the old nuts and line left over from the 1100T van.

All the steering bits back in too, hooked everything up on the other side, and half bled the master, then the lines, then the other caliper, and then after a few pumps by the lovely pedal assistant, the piston began to move out! YUS.

  

Yep, that will hold it.

Doesn't take much rust in tight tolerance to freeze things, and that's quite a lot more than not much.

 

However most of it wiped off, and didn't look much different from the other old piston above, but all new bits for this side of course as well.

And new front springs while we are there, we went with Superlow for 6 cylinder cars, figure we can add spring mount pads to get a bit of lift if we need it, but its a bit harder to go lower if its not low enough...

And all new front end.

Need to remember to find at least a pair (a top and bottom) of the thick wire caliper slider clip things for the drivers side, (i think they are more anti rattle than structural) and to tighten the control arm bolts once its on the ground.

[azzurro]

With the front end all together, time to put the front back on

BUT!

Gotta tidy the all the panels up and fix some rust first

 

Used my first patch panel on the drivers fender, its a bit more extensive than the passenger side

Still had to make the inside bit which i did before chopping the outer away to give me something to built to

This fender is a replacement, the blue is its original colour.   

And ready for some hammer and dolly action before filling it with more filler than i would have liked, (i rushed the welding and it sunk a bit),

but as its  aesthetic filler, not 'structural' its still much better than it was.

 

 This weird bit on the top of the passenger door too, seems like the door channel dribbled water to collect into that spot or something, managed to cut right across the hole for the  door seal clip thing so had to build half a hole into the patch panel, and the grommet thing popped right back 

 

Then time for some paint.

Its been looking worse rather than better.

How it started, just  after we got it running for the first time and  cleaned it in the driveway: 

How its going - immobile, exploded across the garage in 1000 bits and looking like shit.

Masked up and the 1k lacquer base we got 'matched' and then some clear.

Didnt turn out particularly great especially this first go (i needed more paint flow out of the gun, and i also should have put a coat of 2k hig build primer on to seal the filler an), but neither is the current paint, i dont want to hide anything either, its mainly to seal everything and put things back to no worse than before.

The whole car really needs the paint taken right back and redone anyway, which may happen eventually, but not now.

As you can tell that rear quarter panel is now better than it was,  but still a bit wavey.

Thats fine - not really prepped the front half of the panel at all, it still needs around the wheel arch and dog leg cut out and patch panels welded in, so on the front half the paint was just to seal it all up and get it one colour again,

The rear 600mm of the back end is all good tho, so we also put the tidied up bumper and lights etc back on, which also covers up 50% of the new paint anyway,  so that 'side' (the back end) is DUN as far as panel work etc goes. 

Front panels got spot painted too, and went on much better than they came off!

i suspect the last time these were bolted on they were thrown on and bolts cranked down, not adjusted at all, same goes for the doors so pretty happy that some time spent loosening bolts is working out nicely.

Will make it much easier doing the sills and scuttle (eventually) with everything else in the right spot

The nose cone i dint paint as i knew this needed some more yanking, hammering and filler work to line up with the fenders nicely, but only doable once the fenders were back on and adjusted to the adjusted doors etc

This nose panel is a cut and shut from a yellow one and a blue one joined though the drivers headlight bucket. That all needed about 3mm of filler to get it lining up to the fender and bonnet, whcih was a fair bit less than what came out of the same spot then i took it off.

(re) learned my lesson from the rear and entirely primed it properly first

Then upped the thinner to increase flow so got a thicker base and lots of clear. 

Turned out much better, but the colour mismatch is a bit more obvious too, nice colour, but not quite as pink/mauve as the (dusty!)  bonnet which is also back on) 

Grille and buckets in

and front bumper - had to give it a tweak in the press to close up the 'V' a bit more/push out the centre point.

Its not not perfect, (you can see the bumper is almost touching the grill in the centre but less towards the sides)  but much better than it was, and apart from needing to take the outer fenders off when doing the sills eventually, the front end is all done too.

Back together and on the ground

Body work on this side is done* (for now). *'Only' the entire sill below the doors that needs doing, oh and the other side...

Anyway very much looking forwards getting it outside and giving it another wash, cleaning out the shop and  to being a passenger when we turn it around to do the other side

 

[azzurro]

Before we did all that, we had taken the petrol tank out to see inside it and look above it.

Despite what came out

The inside was really nice. Even the sender works. Great news!

For some reason i havnt got any pics of the outside of the tank before tidying it up, but under the mud it was cleanish, but lots of surface rust especially in the low areas and where the anti rattle pads were.

A few dents, but nothing major and bst of all no holes.

so after some cleaning and de-rusting the outside it got a coat of 2k grey, (125p Ute colour ) again just with a brush.

A new seal on the sender and some new rubber pads to replace the old hairy stuff that was on there and cleaned and lubed the cap.

Under side of the boot got a tidy up too, pretty nice really, no holes above the tank at all, and the surface rust mostly came off with the sander + phosphoric + converter 

Tidied up the 3 vent lines (they go up behind the diff, no time like now!) then a coat of rustkill matt black (this is still wet) just to seal everything as hopefully there is no reason to ever be back under the tank again. 

Before installing the tank, we remade the exhaust.

The front pipe is 2inch from the factory log manifold to this muffler which is no good and the tail pipe after it was only inch and half and rusted out anyway.

Can see the pea shooter tip sticking out in this pic from when we picked it up, RIP Bill

I had a 2 1/4" combo bend and some flanges 'in stock' already left over from the 2300 wagon, and i figure 2 1/4 will be 'fine' for pretty much any engine that ends up going in it including the 173 in it , so thats what we used,

Did some thinking and measuring and thinking and looking at the old pipe that came off and dsome more thinking and eventually ordered  another combo bend and a clearance s bend/straight through muffler (was only $50 instead of $220+ for what we should have probably got) from autobend.

the two combo bends together worked out to be juuuuuuuuuust enough.

Immediately after the new muffler i installed new 2 bolt flange, as the old one was fully welded, so i thought id be clever and make this removable, but jokes on me as once it was all tacked i couldn't 'unscrew' the pipe from its loop around the diff/floor anyway, not without letting the diff droop but thats where the jackstands were sooo... 

Anyway, its got to do a bit of a Raurimu Spiral over the diff

Then scoot around the edge of the tank and the back of the diff

Then up the channel between the frame and the boot wells.

Used the last 45 bend as the tip as a bit of a nod to the peashooter that was on there before.

Test run was a success with only a couple of inevitable pinholes found and plugged,

It s bit hard to tell if its too loud (it probably is) or just right when its echoing off a concrete wall in a bunker, but,

its a much more suitable noise and look than the wet farts that came out of the old rusty muffler and twirly straw.